RSA Conference gets underway

Feb. 25, 2013 - 01:05PM
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Although some finishing touches remain to be done, the RSA Conference is underway in San Francisco. Above, a ladder is seen Monday inside the conference hall. (Zachary Fryer-Biggs)

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SAN FRANCISCO — Cranes are still hoisting immaculate banners and eye-catching signs, and the rugs meant to line spacious aisles are still rolled tightly on the side, but the RSA Conference is underway. The conference, the nation’s largest gathering of cybersecurity professionals, runs all week but really doesn’t get rolling until the exposition floor space opens later Monday.

Most of those already at the conference are cloistered in conference rooms for educational opportunities that abound at the event, part of an emphasis on helping security professionals get the credits they need to maintain their certifications. A number of courses ran over the weekend in the city as well.

Conference organizers said they did not have estimates of the number of attendees for the conference, numbers they intend to release in a couple of days, but that things were looking “very good.” Several veterans are anticipating record turnout, as spending on cybersecurity has grown in the past several years and recent public attacks have increased awareness.

A good sign of the potential hordes yet to descend on the conference space: all 36 hotel partners for the conference sold out the blocks of rooms they had allocated for the conference. Even a stroll down the aisle of the 757 this reporter traveled on to get to San Francisco yielded the site of numerous passengers hunched over tablets reviewing presentations to be given in the next couple of days at the conference. The plane, as were several headed for the Bay Areas from Washington, was completely full.